Holy Roman Empire

The city of Cape Town is now in panic.Governor Delphi gave many speeches to boost morale, but under the previous record, his words were not convincing.

The "20" Boer Republic army is about to approach the city, how can the people in the city not panic, the rich have already left by boat.

Those who have no money are also prepared to drag their families and go to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid disaster.Although the two places are not far apart, Cape Town's loss of the Cape of Good Hope is not guaranteed.

But it is always better to stay away from the enemy, at least to ensure temporary safety.

The Pringer family was also among the fleeing crowd. Because the family was poor and couldn't afford a carriage, they had to rely on manpower to push the wheelbarrow forward.

On the way to escape, there are many such families.With the few belongings, he escaped from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope.

"Pringle, you have been recruited, hurry up and report to our army!"

A familiar voice sounded, and Pringle fell into hell.It was this voice that sent his three sons to the battlefield, and their lives and deaths are now unknown.

Pringle hurriedly explained: "Dear Sergeant Amber, I am 48 years old, and I have passed the age of service long ago, so I am not within the scope of recruitment."

My son has all served in the army, and now he can no longer go. If the pillars of the family are gone, what will happen to the three young grandchildren?

In this day and age, women's wages are much lower than men's, and it is difficult for them to support their children.

Sergeant Amber sighed, suppressed the sliver of conscience in his heart, and snapped: "20 enemy troops are pressing down on the border, and Cape Town is in crisis.

In order to defend Cape Town, the Governor's Office has just issued a new decree, extending the service period to 55 years old.

If you don't want to serve, you pay £50 for immunity.If you don't have money, don't talk nonsense, and it's useless to tell me. "

This is obviously not the order of Governor Delphi. As a qualified politician, it is impossible for him to issue such a crazy order.

People in this era age quickly, and when they get old, it is difficult to play a role on the battlefield.The recruitment order of the Governor's Mansion is only aimed at the young and strong aged 18 to 40, and has no interest in the old and weak.

It's just that the officials below have changed the rules in order to make money, and the rich have spent money to escape military service, and someone needs to make up for this gap.

Pringer, who couldn't afford the money, had to be forced to join the army.This is also his bad luck. If he ran fast enough, he might have escaped a catastrophe.

In this era of war and chaos, there is no Pringer or other unlucky people to stand on top of them. In short, enough people are enough. It doesn't matter who the specific people are.

"20" is what Viscount Fickney called himself. The Boer Republic, which has a population of less than 20, is not sure why it was able to gather 20 troops.

Anyway, the governor of Delphi swore that there are 20 enemies.That's right, the Boers defeated them by relying on their numbers. This is absolutely beyond doubt.

The telegrams to the London government all said so, and of course the Cape Colony was no exception.As long as he doesn't want to be a scapegoat for the failure of this war, he must make this number real.

It is not that the British people cannot tolerate failure. When the enemy is strong and we are weak, it is forgivable to fail once in a while.

This depends on publicity, and Governor Delphi is obviously good at self-packaging.The responsibility for the failure of the war has been pushed to seven or eighty-eight.

Otherwise, the London government would have changed people a long time ago, and no one can tolerate a governor who keeps failing.Especially a restless governor who took the initiative to provoke a war.

The middle-aged military officer reported: "Your Excellency, the new round of conscription has been completed. This time a total of 8000 people will be recruited."

The governor of Delphi nodded, and said with compassion: "Very well, you have done a very good job. It's just that the people of Cape Town have suffered, and they need to make sacrifices for the empire this time."

At this moment, the Governor of Delphi does not look like a treacherous politician, but wants to be a compassionate Virgin.

An official immediately cooperated and said: "There is no way, the enemy is fierce, once Cape Town falls, no one can escape.

Now people enlist in the army to protect their families from the suffering of war.

Your Excellency Governor, don't be too sad, the sacrifices of the people are worth it, I believe everyone will understand your painstaking efforts. "

The governor of Delphi, who seemed to be possessed by a movie king, shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter what the people think of me, it's all for the empire.

As long as Cape Town can be kept, even if I am asked to die immediately, I will not frown.

I have made up my mind, I swear to live and die with Cape Town.This is the suicide note I wrote. If you die in battle unfortunately, please help me to hand it over to my family. "

The scene was very sensational, and everyone was moved.But this is only superficial, and everyone knows that once Cape Town falls, Governor Delphi who provoked this war will be finished.

To return to London alive, it is necessary to go to the military court.The rest of his life will be spent in prison, and his family will not be able to lift their heads.

The best choice is to die on the battlefield, then the situation changed instantly.Even for the sake of political propaganda, the London government will turn him into a "tragic hero".

The governor of Delphi is very clear about these situations, and he even knows that even if Cape Town is kept, he will have no good fruit to eat.

In order to reduce his responsibility, now he has to act out this bitter scene and portray himself as a "hero".

Chapter 53 Hurting Someone With Your Own

No matter how political the show is, it still cannot change the deteriorating situation.Contradictions that had been covered up in the past also emerged one after another.

The law and order in Cape Town deteriorated rapidly. Murder, robbery, rape... Various vicious crimes emerged one after another, making people panic.

The Cape Town colonial government was very weak in this regard, and the bureaucratic police did nothing.It's not that they are completely inactive. They concentrate their police force on defending the interests of the powerful.

The deterioration of law and order is still a trivial matter, but it is nothing more than the increase in Rush incidents.The people in the colonies are not soft persimmons. Even if men join the army, women can also kill with guns.

After the initial chaos, the people also learned to hold together for warmth.Anyway, there is a tradition of guns in the colonies, and most ordinary people basically have shotguns in their homes.

If there is no external interference, Cape Town in the future will be a holy place for gangs.After experiencing this wave, it is difficult for the gang to grow and develop.

A middle-aged official reported worriedly: "Your Excellency, from the outbreak of the war to the present, the price of food in Cape Town has tripled, which has exceeded the tolerance limit of many ordinary people.

Not only food, the prices of most daily necessities have risen to varying degrees, and some commodities have even been out of stock. "

This is the basic quality of an excellent capitalist.Of course, this time is an exception. The soaring prices should not be entirely borne by the capitalists.

Due to the war, Cape Town lost the food produced in South Africa and could only rely on imports.This cost will naturally go up, and price increases have become inevitable.

Governor Delphi's face changed, and he ordered sternly: "The order will be passed down to calm down the price as soon as possible, and it is absolutely impossible to let the price of food rise any further.

Forget it, don't embarrass you, I will do it myself.Tomorrow night, I will hold a banquet at the Governor's Mansion and invite these bastards. If anyone does not cooperate with the government to stabilize prices, he will sacrifice the flag to them. "

Under normal circumstances, Governor Delphi would not be able to do such an extreme thing.But isn't it abnormal now?

His background in the London government has already expressed his attitude. If he loses this war, Governor Delphi will have no choice but to die.The difference lies in how to die, he died in battle, or was killed by others.

His life was about to die, Governor Delphi was naturally not afraid of offending others.Anyway, even if he wins the war, he, the instigator of the war, has to go home to retire, and he is not afraid of their revenge at all.

There is still a bottom line for political struggles in the London government, and genocide is rare.Governor Delphi with a background, it is not difficult to get out.

A middle-aged man in military uniform said: "Your Excellency, our military reserves are seriously insufficient. Due to insufficient preparation in advance, we only have 2 people in reserve for three months of combat supplies.

Judging from the current situation, these materials will only last for a month at most.At present, newly enlisted soldiers, we can only distribute decommissioned rifles to them, and make do with it. "

Because of the war, most of the people in the British South African colony, except for the indigenous tribes, were concentrated in Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope. There were 50 million people, old and young.

It is impossible to ignore the eating and drinking of so many people.Even if sea transportation can meet the material demand, the pressure is still great.

Before the arrival of Austria, the colonial government of Cape Town did not consider the threat from the interior, and the Royal Navy was the hegemony of the world, which was enough to ensure the smooth flow of sea routes.

In this context, the Cape Town colonial government naturally did not consider strategic reserves, and African indigenous tribes could not threaten them.

The governor of Delphi can be said to be one of the first to anticipate the threat of Austria. The main purpose of attacking the Boer Republic this time is to eliminate Austria's advantages in South Africa.

It's a pity that the plan did not change quickly, but instead fell into the enemy's trap, which directly led to the Boers throwing themselves into the arms of Austria.

The governor of Delphi replied calmly: "I have already asked for help from the country for the problem of supplies, and it will be resolved in a short time."

How long is it?This question will test the integrity of the British bureaucrats, and it will take three to five days at the earliest, or three to five months at the slowest.

The British government has so many procedures, as long as there is a problem in one of the links, it can be delayed indefinitely.

You must know that not everyone is willing to see him win this war, and there are many people in the London government who want Delphi to lose this war.

In political struggle, the internal enemy is always more terrible than the external enemy.In the eyes of many people, Cape Town is a backcountry, and the victory or defeat of this battle does not matter at all.

To put it bluntly, the greatest value of the current British South African colony is to hold the Cape of Good Hope and provide supplies to the Royal Navy.

If sacrificing a Cape Town can change the London government, it is estimated that many opposition parties will not mind.

What is lost on the battlefield can also be brought back from the negotiating table.The unprecedentedly confident British don't think anyone dares to show off their prestige.

Of course, it is not the top government officials who have this view, otherwise Governor Delphi would have been really screwed to death.

Once the British and Austrian compromise, the war is over.However, as the chief culprit of the lost city and land, the governor of Delphi will stare at the infamy and go to the military court, and he will not even have the chance to commit crimes and meritorious deeds.

Even his backstage will be implicated, and the colonial department will naturally bear the brunt of the colonial fall.If there is no background support, Delphi is really dead.

This bad situation did not happen, and the politicians in the London government were still intelligent, and they did not listen to the bombastic talkers.

Austria is very powerful on the African continent. If Cape Town is lost, it is completely unknown whether it can be brought back in the future.

If the Vienna government doesn't buy it, can it be possible to seize it by force?

It's not bragging: at sea, even if the Austrian navy is doubled, the Royal Navy can still fight; on land, it's the opposite. The British army doubles, and it's not dead enough to send it to the African continent.

Relying on "sea deterrence" to force Austria to make concessions exists in an ideal state.Even if the London government tries its best, it can at most seize a few tasteless colonies of Austria, and the African continent will not be able to win.

Sending the Royal Navy to the Adriatic Sea to block the door was originally the most deterrent way.It's a pity that today is different from the past. If the Royal Navy dares to enter the Mediterranean Sea, it must be prepared to never return.

The French took Sicily, and the Mediterranean was essentially split in two.At this time, the risk of sending the Royal Navy into the Mediterranean has greatly increased. If France and Austria join forces to beat the sap, the Royal Navy may be ruined.

This possibility is not merely a problem, but an inevitable one.The main reason why Fao didn't join forces with the British was that he didn't have a chance to attack.

Otherwise, in the face of interests, the two families would have already done it.The combination of France and Austria was originally aimed at the British, and there were similar plans from the beginning.

……

The roaring artillery fire was deafening, which opened the prelude to the war.After the artillery fire, the black crowd charged the British positions with all kinds of weapons.

Intensive gunfire sounded, and the charging crowd kept falling.The heavy casualties demoralized the charging team, and many even turned around and fled.

Putting down the binoculars in his hand, Viscount Fickney almost frowned.Obviously, he was very dissatisfied with this tentative attack.

After sighing, Viscount Fickney issued the cruelest order: "Send a supervising team to supervise their attack, and those who are afraid of the enemy and those who run away on the battlefield will be killed.

From now on, attack around the clock.Unless the cannon fodder troops in our hands are dead, the attack cannot be stopped. "

This is the most typical tactic of killing people, and it is also known as: the worst tactic.

Attacking the city in this way is completely hurting people.Even if the war is won in the end, the results of the battle will be dimmed because of the huge losses of one's own side.

Viscount Fickney wasn't worried about this issue at all. Anyway, he was using cannon fodder troops, and he didn't feel bad about how many deaths he had.

In Viscount Fickney's opinion, as long as Cape Town can be conquered, even if all the hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder troops are consumed, it will be worth it.

A young officer immediately replied: "Yes, Your Excellency Commander."

This tentative attack was not completely fruitless, at least it exposed the enemy's firepower.

Without Viscount Fickney's order, the frontline commander had already made fine adjustments during the second round of artillery fire.

This time it was no longer blooming in all directions, but changed to a focused bombing, specifically picking the area with the most fierce firepower to attack.

For a while, the British army suffered heavy losses, and the Sixth Colonial Division stationed in the north of Cape Town became the first victims.

Colonel Belding, who was hiding in the fortress, scolded angrily: "Have all our artillerymen gone to eat shit, and don't fucking know how to fight back!

The guard connected me to the headquarters and asked for fire support.It has to be fast, otherwise the Sixth Division will be wiped out. "

It is an exaggeration to say that the Sixth Division will be wiped out.Even after two rounds of bombing, the Sixth Division suffered no more than 80 NO.[-] casualties.

It's just that being passively beaten hurts morale very much, which makes Colonel Belding angry.

It's not that the British artillery didn't launch a counterattack, but they suffered a small loss in the frontal artillery fire.

After all, the area of ​​Cape Town is limited, and there are many buildings in the city, so there are not many places suitable for artillery erection.

The "Boer Republic" army attacking outside is different. There are plenty of places, so the artillery positions are scattered and erected.

Although it is more difficult to command after being dispersed, it is not a big problem to have a phone.Considering the increased security of the artillery positions, it was totally worth it.

Chapter 54 A Crisis of Faith

The British and Austrian PK in South Africa, European countries are happy to see the joke.In order for this war to last longer, the French also supported the "Boer Republic" with practical actions.

In this Anglo-Boer War, nearly one-fifth of the strategic materials were contributed by the French.The French also opened the door to convenience for the materials transported from Austria to the front line of South Africa through Egypt.

The Anglo-Boer war was not so much a game between Britain and Austria, as it was a joint effort by France and Austria to block the British.Although Austria eventually occupied South Africa, the French did not lose money in their investment.

It is better to divert the energy of the British in South Africa than to allow the British to devote this energy to the European continent.

The anti-French alliance remained on paper and did not become a reality. The "British-Boer war" also played an important role.

It stands to reason that the current Anglo-Austrian confrontation is very favorable to the French. The establishment of the Great French Empire is unstoppable, and Napoleon III should be happy.

However, as the external threat disappeared, internal troubles emerged.

The first one to jump out was the Pope. The Italian states, who were unwilling to fail, attempted to fight him by supporting the Pope.

As a Catholic country, the influence of the Holy See is still very large.Now that the emperor and the pope are in the same country, who is older and who is younger is a headache.

Now Napoleon III regrets it a bit. If he had known it was such a trouble, he would have kicked out the Papal State.